Her Story: Nigerian basketball star gives back
May 18, 2010 in Development, Women in basketball
Mobi Akiode
ESPN is running a series called “Her Story”. In one of the episodes, they profile a young Nigerian lady named Mobolaji (“Mobi”) Akiode who is making a difference to the game in Nigeria.
Mobi played for the Nigerian national team at one time, and also spent time living with her family in Newark, New Jersey, working for ESPN as an accountant.
After realising she had something to give, Mobi made a decision to contribute where she could. She was able to recruit ex-WNBA player Yolanda Griffiths to join her, and set up the Hope 4 Girls camp in Nigeria which does exactly that – provides hope for young girls, facilitated by a basketball camp.
This is an inspiring story, one about making a difference against the odds.
You can read more about Mobi’s story here, or watch the video here (it’s 1 hour 21 minutes long so be prepared)
There’s also an interesting chat with her here on ESPN SportsNation.
It’s wonderful to see people like Mobi who make a real difference to communities by using the game of basketball!
The Township Basketball League in Cape Town is another good example of how the game can be used to build and shape communities. Let’s hope we see many more of these stories coming out of Africa, and especially South Africa, in the near future.
